Jewish Healthcare Foundation Releases Report on Self-Directed Patient Safety Technology
'As the healthcare system faces unprecedented financial and human pressures, self-directed safety is a scalable, patient-centered solution.'
The report, Self-Directed Patient Safety: Mapping the Emerging Landscape of Consumer-Facing Innovation, developed in partnership with TEConomy Partners, LLC, comes at a critical time: medical errors remain the third leading cause of death in the United States, healthcare spending continues to rise faster than the economy, and chronic illness affects six in ten Americans. Amid these unsustainable trends, JHF's new report identifies self-directed patient safety —the empowerment of patients to prevent harm and manage care through direct-to-consumer technologies—as a promising strategy for improving outcomes while reducing costs.
'This is a generational opportunity to rethink how we approach patient safety,' said Karen Wolk Feinstein, PhD, President and CEO of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation and Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative. 'By putting modern tools directly in patients' hands—like AI-powered symptom checkers, smart medication dispensers, and remote monitoring devices—we can shift from a reactive system to one focused on prevention, engagement, and shared responsibility.'
She continues, 'Over a decade ago, our Foundation identified four interventions that would dramatically reduce hospitalizations: managing chronic conditions in the community, greater medication scrutiny, addressing behavioral health issues as early as possible, and engaging patients in advancing their health. The first three have gotten more attention; patient engagement remains a promising but underdeveloped opportunity.'
The report explores five key areas where preventable harm often occurs—medication errors, patient care errors, diagnostic errors, infection errors, and surgical errors—and showcases timely innovations across these domains. It also outlines the market forces, regulatory barriers, and investment trends shaping the future of self-directed safety.
Key findings include:
Growing innovation and venture capital activity in consumer health tech, particularly in AI-driven health IT and digital platforms.
Notable solutions are being developed to support high-risk groups such as aging adults, new parents, individuals with chronic diseases, and rare disease patients.
Significant regulatory and economic challenges slowing adoption of direct-to-consumer safety tools—yet also opportunities for leadership in regions like Pittsburgh, which combine world-class health care with technology innovation.
The report's release supports JHF's broader mission to advance patient safety and innovation in health care. It aligns closely with recent priorities from the CMS Innovation Center, including empowering people to achieve health goals, encouraging evidence-based prevention, and leveraging technology to improve care delivery.
'As the healthcare system faces unprecedented financial and human pressures, self-directed safety is a scalable, patient-centered solution,' added Dr. Feinstein. 'We hope this report sparks new partnerships, policies, and products that empower people to protect themselves and their loved ones.'
The full report is available at jhf.org.
Available for Interviews: Karen Wolk Feinstein, PhD, President and CEO, Jewish Healthcare Foundation
About the Jewish Healthcare Foundation
The Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) and its three operating arms — the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative (PRHI), Health Careers Futures (HCF), and the Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) — offer a unique brand of activist philanthropy to advance healthcare innovation, advocacy, collaboration, and education in the interest of better health. For more information, visit jhf.org.
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Newsweek
18 minutes ago
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What the Future of Medicaid and Medicare Could Look Like
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Chan School of Public Health, told Newsweek. "The 'savings' here are not from reducing fraud, but from kicking people off of Medicaid to become uninsured and struggle to afford medical care," he added. "It's a perennial political motto and goal," Tim Westmoreland, a retired professor of health law and policy from Georgetown Law, told Newsweek. "Politicians often say that they are making eligibility requirements more stringent in order to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse, but research has shown repeatedly that this mostly disqualifies people who would be eligible if they could find their way through complex mazes of paperwork," he added. He went on to say it saves "comparatively little money"—the real savings come from "investigating and prosecuting providers, for example, doctors who overcharge, or pharmaceutical companies that game their prices, or medical equipment suppliers who don't deliver, or managed care companies that underserve." 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"Changes to the federal share of Medicaid spending will cause states to either cut enrollment, cut benefits, cut payments to providers or greatly increase their spending," she said. While Medicaid is more directly affected by the bill than Medicare, Pauly said that "Medicare's time will come when provider reimbursements are cut so much that fewer doctors will accept it." Goold added that Medicare will also be indirectly affected by the bill, such as via increases in income tax deductions, including for seniors on social security, which "means less revenue to both Medicare and Social Security." "That speeds up the trajectory toward insolvency, unless future cuts are made to benefits," she said. Also, provider payment rate changes may "make it more difficult for Medicare enrollees to find providers," Goold added. 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Business Wire
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Kissei is engaged in bringing new drugs into the world through drug discovery and licensing activities in its focus fields of rare/intractable diseases, urology, and nephrology/dialysis. Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by the use of words such as, but not limited to, 'anticipate,' 'believe,' 'become,' 'continue,' 'could,' 'design,' 'estimate,' 'expect,' 'intend,' 'may,' 'might,' 'on track,' 'plan,' 'potential,' 'predict,' 'project,' 'should,' 'target,' 'will,' or 'would' or other similar terms or expressions that concern our expectations, plans and intentions. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based on our current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding: Viridian's partnership with Kissei; Viridian's ability to achieve development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments and receive royalties on the commercial sale of our product candidates pursuant to the agreement with Kissei; clinical development and anticipated commercialization of Viridian's product candidates, including veligrotug (formerly VRDN-001) and VRDN-003; the potential utility, efficacy, potency, safety, clinical benefits, clinical response, convenience, and number of indications of veligrotug and VRDN-003; Viridian's product candidates potentially being best-in-class; whether veligrotug and VRDN-003 will serve an unmet need; and Viridian's expectations regarding the potential commercialization of veligrotug and VRDN-003, if approved, including under the agreement with Kissei. New risks and uncertainties may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible to predict all risks and uncertainties. No representations or warranties (expressed or implied) are made about the accuracy of any such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of material risks and uncertainties including but not limited to: potential utility, efficacy, potency, safety, clinical benefits, clinical response, and convenience of Viridian's product candidates; that results or data from completed or ongoing clinical trials may not be representative of the results of ongoing or future clinical trials; that preliminary data may not be representative of final data; expectations and changes regarding the timing for regulatory filings; regulatory interactions; uncertainty and potential delays related to clinical drug development; the timing of and our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approvals for our therapeutic candidates; competition from other therapies or products; estimates of market size; our future operating results and financial performance; Viridian's intellectual property position; that our product candidates may not be commercially successful, if approved; and other risks described from time to time in the 'Risk Factors' section of our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including those described in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K or Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, as applicable, and supplemented from time to time by our Current Reports on Form 8-K. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it was made. Neither the company, nor its affiliates, advisors, or representatives, undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the company's views as of any date subsequent to the date hereof.
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